1957 - We Didn't Start the Fire

1957 - We Didn't Start the Fire - Page Text Content

BC: 1957

FC: 1957 | By Gustavo Mezquita

1: Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" 1957 | Billy Joel wrote this song because these were important thing that changed the world or made an impact in the society at that time. It wasn't just people or events or anything in specific. He wrote down anything that was important in the 1950's and it is well set up because it had the most important thing from each year. This songs truly represents the importance of these years and how they still affect us today.

2: Little Rock is important in history because of the 9 African Americans who tried to attend Little Rock Central High School but were not allowed. Little Rock was the name of the city and it is located in Arkansas. Desegregation was occurring throughout the nation and still Governor Orval Faubus sent the National Guard to the school to prevent the black students from entering in September 4th of 1957. The mayor of Little Rock was against segregation and asked President Eisenhower to send troops to end this crisis. | President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to escort the 9 students into the school. The federal troops fought against the National Guard (the governor against the president). After a 18 day conference between the Governor and the President, the 9 students were finally allowed into the school. The Governor refused to withdraw his troops but accepted segregation in the school and the nine African Americans entered the school towards the end of 1957. | Little Rock

3: Boris Pasternak was a Jewish Russian poet who is famous for his novel (only one) “Doctor Zhivago” that he wrote in 1957. This novel had a combination of fiction and autobiographical information. The book is about a man named Zhivago who falls in love with Lara during WWI. Doctor Zhivago is a hobo filled with spiritual love, which he expresses in his poems. They are separated many times and it ends with the death of Doctor Zhivago. Unfortunately after it was publish in 1957, the book was banned for the critics against his countries communist government. | It described the life of Doctor Zhivago living in the Russian society during the revolution of 1917. His intellectual honesty, religious and political opinions conflict with the Governments ideas and so they made the decision of banning the book. In 1958 Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize for literature which he gladly accepted. Shortly after he was accused of being a traitor towards the communist groups and he was in a very dangerous political situation there for had no other option than to decline the award. | Pasternak

4: Mickey Mantle was a famous baseball player who played for the New York Yankees for his entire career as a professional. He managed to be the most valuable player in the American League 3 times including in 1956 and 1957. He is still recognized to be one of the greatest players of all time. His team won the American League consecutively from 1955 to 1958. The New York Yankees also won the World Series in 1956 and 1958 with Mickey Mantle as a batter and fielder, other than this his team won 5 other World Series. He's also widely known after winning baseball's Triple Crown in 1956 with an astonishing 52 homeruns. He won the American Home Run Leader 4 times including 1956 and 1958. He also won the award for most runs scored in the American League in 1956, 1957 and 1958. There are very few players that could match his talent both as a fielder and as a batter. I think Billy Joel included him in his song because Mickey Mantle could bat equally well from both sides and still do it better than almost anybody in the world, maybe that's why he thought he was special. | Mickey Mantle

5: Jack Kerouac was an American writer who was born in Lowe Massachusetts. He is mostly known for his autobiographical peace “On the Road” which he published in 1957. This is about Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty exploring the rural, the urban and the wildness of America sleeping and living, as the title suggests, “On the Road”. It is an example of freedom and liberty to do whatever they wanted. The book had contents of sexual intercourse, drugs, jazz and poetry. It was so famous because it captivated people's minds and opened them up to all kinds of new possibilities. This book is based on his trips with his friends in Mexico during the 1940’s and 1950’s. It only took him 3 weeks to write that book. His book wasn't very famous at first, giving that he couldn't find a publisher. Finally shortly after publishing the book it was a hit, giving that it diverged from the usual themes of books in that age. | Kerouac

6: On the 4th of October, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first global satellite that would orbit the earth; it came by the name, “Sputnik”. It immediately reached an international success starting to what is to be known as the Space Race between The United States of America and the Soviet Union. The small satellite was about the size of a humans arm. It weighed about 83 kilograms. Even though it was small, Sputnik could orbit the earth once every 95 minutes. It traveled around the earth at a maximum distance of 901.23 km above the ground. In 1957 the Soviet Union only launched 2 satellites. The second one was in November 3rd of 1957 the Soviet Union launched “Sputnik 2” which successfully carried a living creature (a dog), called Laika. Unfortunately the dog only survived a couple of hours due to temperature rise. The Soviet Union's project of “Sputnik” continued on with many successful and unsuccessful launches. Billy Joel included Sputnik in his song because it was the first handmade object to leave the earth's atmosphere and orbit the earth; this was the first step ever into space technology. | Sputnik

7: Chou En-Lai was the Chinese communist leader, the foreign Minister of Red China. He wished to see international communism in the world. It was after the communist defeat in 1949 where Chou En-Lai became Prime Minister of the Popular Republic. In January 1957 he made a speech in Russia where he wished to restore Russia’s government to communist like it was with Stalin. He was a member of the communist party in China ever since the beginning of its regime. | In 1958 he accepted responsibility as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a job he kept until he passed away. In 1957 he played an important role as a negotiator between foreign problems between Poland and Hungary against the Soviet Union, a cause which ended deteriorated. Chou En-Lai was very famous in the communist world and that is why Billy Joel put him in his song. He had great dreams and a lot of potential to accomplish those dreams, doesn’t matter if they were good or bad. | Chou | En-Lai

8: “Bridge on the River Kwai” is a famous movie from 1957 about World War II directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel. It covers accurate historical events also mixed with some fiction. “Bridge on the River Kwai” was released October 2nd of 1957, I think that it is because it was so successful and won so many academy awards that Billy Joel included it in his song. Lieutenant Colonel Toosey was ordered to build a bridge by the Japanese over the River Kwai to help the Japanese to be able to move their troops from Bangkok to Rangoon. The movie was a mind-blowing success in the history of films. This multimillion dollar movie won 7 academy awards out of 8 nominations. This was by no doubt David Lean’s biggest success as a film director. Alec Guinness portrayed Coronel Nicholas in a memorable performance that earned him an academy award. Billy Joel used this in his song because this was one of the few movies to be made of WWII that really recaptured the events of that war and that is why this movie was so successful. | Bridge on the | River Kwai

10: 1957 - We Didn't Start the Fire official remix, Quiz | 1.What was the name of the governor who tried to prevent integration in Little Rock Highschool? a)Governor Henry Kennedy b)Governor Orval Faubus c)Governor Will Smith d)Governor John Albus 2.What was the name of the book that made Boris Pasternak famous in 1957? a)Dr. Zhivago b)A Life of Misteries c)Dr. Zihan d)When the Sun Rises 3.Mickey Mantle was a famous baseball player, for what team did he play for? a)Boston Red Socks b)San Francisco Giants c)Arizona Baseball d)New York Yankees 4.Kerouac wrote a book about a man with his friends that take a trip to . 5.The dog sent to space inside Sputnik was called . 6.Chou En-Lai was a Foreign Minister from . 7.“Bridge on the River Kwai” is a movie directed by .